*By Conor White*
Apple, the world's most valuable publicly traded company, may be seriously undervalued, said longtime tech investor Eric Jackson, founder and president at EMJ Capital. He told Cheddar that the iPhone maker should've crossed the $1 trillion threshold long ago.
"This is a company that should be valued as a services business instead of a discreet product business, which is, as long as I can remember, how this company has been valued," he said in an interview Friday.
Jackson estimated Apple's value closer to $1.5 trillion, and he views it as a service-oriented company, much like Salesforce and Google, which get traded at roughly six times price-to-sales multiple.
Though many investors consider Apple a hardware company, Jackson said most consumers have a different relationship with Apple's products.
"Your relationship with your iPhone itself is a long-term service commitment," he said. "Even though you don't have a contract that says your next iPhone you're going to upgrade in one year or two years, who among us who owns an iPhone is not going to, in three to four years, upgrade to the latest and greatest iPhone?"
As bullish as Jackson is on Apple, he admitted China ー and consumers in other countries ー may stunt the company's growth because the iPhone faces competition from cheaper smartphones.
"China is a challenge, for sure, probably the biggest challenge that Apple faces in that regard because you have other services like WeChat that can potentially get in between your personal relationship with the phone," Jackson said.
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/why-one-investor-believes-apple-is-worth-more-than-1-trillion).
As Russia intensifies its war on Ukraine, President Biden announced a ban on oil imported from the aggressor nation. Critics of Russia have said this would be the best way to force Putin to pull back, but curbs on Russian oil exports are expected to send already skyrocketing oil and gas prices even higher, further impacting consumers, businesses, financial markets, and the global economy. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. "It's certainly going to increase pricing, but it is the right thing to do," she said. "The industry itself has already pulled out of the significant portion of its operations in Russia."
As airlines recover from COVID-19 and the industry becomes more competitive than ever, low-fare carrier Breeze Airlines is offering 35 new routes and reduced prices for its first-class experiences. CEO David Neeleman joined Cheddar News to talk about the rollout of services amid plenty of headwinds including high fuel costs. "We can limit a lot of costs because we're a technology company that happens to fly airplanes," he noted.
Despite women as a whole being among the groups most impacted by pandemic job losses, homesharing platform Airbnb reported that women hosts brought in $12 billion in revenue last year. Catherine Powell, Airbnb's global head of hosting, joined Cheddar News to discuss how women hosting has become a huge asset for the company. "Last year 21 percent more women joined the platform than men," she said. "So they are joining the platform. They are being successful. They're more super hosts, and they're doing incredibly well."
Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu and Smile Train CEO Susie Schaefer join Cheddar News to talk about how Smile Train continues to support those with a cleft lip this International Women's Day.
